‘American Idol’ Winner Candice Glover Eager To Get The Music Out There [Video]

American Idol winner Candice Glover is on the offensive to keep the momentum going from her Season 12 victory which featured her spectacular performance of “I Am Beautiful.” I’ve posted the official video down below so you can see for yourself why one New York Times reviewer said that the 23-year-old R&B singer’s voice hit “with the force and nuance of a cement truck.”

Heh. Glover’s unsubtle gift may pound you over the head like a baseball bat, but you can’t claim that she’s holding anything back.

Even the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, was so bowled over by Candice Glover’s powerhouse voice that she seemed to blab a possible spoiler that the South Carolina native was the winner.

As the first female American Idol winner since Jordin Sparks, in the first all-female finale since the third season, Candice Glover has a lot to prove. Once a reality TV giant, the Fox program has undergone an embarrassing ratings collapse in recent years.

So how can Candice Glover both grab and keep the spotlight? The South Carolina native’s first album is being rushed to the shelves, with a planned release date of July 16 — faster than previous American Idol winners.

She wants to get it out there “while I’m still fresh in people’s minds,” Glover told reports. She’s also eager to get started on the American Idol tour, which hits the road June 29.